![\"Argus](\"http:\/\/blog.keloland.com\/lund\/files\/2010\/08\/Argus-insert-002.jpg\" "\\"Argus")
<\/p>\nI haven\u2019t been hearing too much lately about newspapers around the country having to fold up operations under pressure from the internet. \u00a0It may still be happening, I just haven\u2019t noticed. I\u2019ve never really bought into the claims that newspapers and local TV newscasts would eventually be put out to pasture because people will be relying on their computers for news that’s available anytime..anywhere. \u00a0No, most of us, I think, still count on that morning ritual of opening the front door and searching around the steps and bushes for the paper then paging through it\u2019s contents over coffee or in\u00a0the porcelain library. When I was a reporter, the Argus Leader was required reading\u00a0 to keep an eye on what the competition was up to. Now it\u2019s just a habit which I look forward to most days\u2026.except Wednesday.\u00a0 Why on God\u2019s green earth do they feel it necessary to do this:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those half page fold-over ads drive me nuts. I suppose the intent is to force the reader to notice the ad but they\u2019re as annoying as pop-ups on web sites or spam on e-mails and blogs. I intentionally avoid patronizing places that try get my business through the process of unavoidable irritation. (Okay, I did go to Lewis the other day..but still.) \u00a0Oh, and you can also do away with those stupid yellow sticker ads\u00a0 glued to the front page. \u00a0\u00a0But, generally speaking, I do like my paper especially when I read an article like the one by Sheri Levisay this week. It was about a man by the name of John Blair Smith Todd who was primarily responsible for pushing congress to approve Dakota as a territory in 1861 and served as its first representative in Washington where his cousin-in-law, Abraham Lincoln, had just been elected President of the United States. Todd, as I learned from the article, went from being a career military man to successful merchant, land speculator, lawyer and politician. He was also a tough ol\u2019 bird and a bit of a scoundrel who got things done and wasn\u2019t too fussy how he went about it. \u00a0Mary Todd Lincoln was his first cousin and he was at Ford\u2019s Theatre on the evening Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and helped carry the mortally wounded President to the rooming house across the street. \u00a0Todd County South Dakota is named after him\u2026all things I did not know.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a photo of him taken in 1861 or 62.<\/p>\n
Okay, maybe that\u2019s stretching the imagination a bit far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I haven\u2019t been hearing too much lately about newspapers around the country having to fold up operations under pressure from the internet. \u00a0It may still be happening, I just haven\u2019t noticed. I\u2019ve never really bought into the claims that newspapers and local TV newscasts would eventually be put out to pasture because people will be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11854,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions\/11854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"johnny](\"http:\/\/blog.keloland.com\/lund\/files\/2010\/08\/johnny-todd.jpg\" "\\"johnny")
When I first saw this image of Todd, I thought it looked real familiar. I got to thinking; isn\u2019t there one of Lincoln in a very similar pose?\u00a0 I began a search and sure enough, came across this 1861 photo of our 16th<\/sup> President taken by noted photographer, Mathew Brady in his Washington, D.C. studio. \u00a0Then, I noticed something else; look closely and you\u2019ll see that not only are the poses similar..but both Lincoln and Todd are sitting in the very same studio. The chair, table, pedestal,(note the position of four nails at the base)\u00a0and carpeting are\u00a0identical. Brady even had both men place their top hats on the table in about the same place.<\/p>\n![\"abe](\"http:\/\/blog.keloland.com\/lund\/files\/2010\/08\/abe-photo-brady-studio2.jpg\" "\\"abe")
Of course I started making up stories in my mind about how Todd might have been visiting his cousins in Washington when Abe said, \u201cJohn, I\u2019ve gotta go over to Brady\u2019s to have my picture made..you want to tag along?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhy sure, Abe..in fact, I\u2019ve been meaning to get my photograph done too. Do you suppose Brady would have time to squeeze us both in?\u201d\u00a0 Then, I picture them heading back over to the White House where Mary had been standing over a hot stove all afternoon fixing supper for all her boys.<\/p>\n